Abstract
The electrical characteristics of HfO x N y -gated metal-oxide-semiconductor devices are significantly affected by the amount of defects in Si substrate. Devices with a low defect region near the Si surface were formed in this work using high-temperature annealing in a hydrogen ambient. Experimental results show longer minority carrier lifetime in silicon substrate, lower gate leakage current, and reduced interface trap density (D it ), which are attributable to the decrease in the interstitial oxygen (O i ) and crystal-originated-particle defects as well as better surface quality at HfO x N y /Si interface. © 2006 The Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.